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I am thrilled beyond words to announce that the first ever Brick Testament book
is now available at bookstores nationwide and also through internet retailers
such as Amazon.com,
Powell’s Books, and
Barnes & Noble:
The Brick Testament: Stories from
the Book of Genesis, published by Quirk Books,
contains ten classic Bible stories and over 175 illustrated images in an
attractive hardcover book.
-The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith
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In lugnet.announce, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
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-The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith
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Brendan,
Wow! Congratulations, man. I’ll definitely pick up a copy. No, maybe I’ll
pick up a few thousand copies and start leaving them in hotel rooms. ;)
Could you tell us a little more about this? How did it come about? Did a
publisher approach you, or did you seek out a publisher for this? Were you able
to use your original photos, or did you have to re-build scenes to take them at
a higher resolution? Are the scenes in the book the same as on the web, or are
there others you had to add or delete?
Bruce
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In lugnet.books, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
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Wow! Congratulations, man.
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Thanks, Bruce!
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I’ll definitely pick up a copy. No, maybe I’ll
pick up a few thousand copies and start leaving them in hotel rooms. ;)
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Ooh, I like the sound of that. @8^)
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Could you tell us a little more about this? How did it come about? Did a
publisher approach you, or did you seek out a publisher for this?
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It started to come about mid-last year when the president of Quirk Books
happened to hear the broadcast of the interview with me on National Public
Radio. He then checked out the website, liked what he saw, and contact me about
the possibility of putting about a Brick Testament book.
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Were you able to use your original photos, or did you have to re-build
scenes to take them at a higher resolution?
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Fortunately for me, I had taken the original photos at a high enough resolution
to make the book a possibility, so I did not need to reconstruct the stories
from scratch. If I’d had to reconstruct and re-photograph everything, it would
have probably meant that I would never have had time to do any updates to the
websites in the last year (Exodus, The Wilderness, The Law).
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Are the scenes in the book the same as on the web, or are there others
you had to add or delete?
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With minor editing, the stories in the book appear as they do on the website.
Most of the edits were done to save space and thereby allow more stories to make
it into the book. Basically, they told me they wanted the book to be about 150
pages at most. After some cajoling, I got them to expand it to 176. Even at
this length, every edit was painful for me, and done with reluctance, but I
guess that’s how authors tend to feel about edits to their creative work.
One interesting difference in the book version is that there are no dialogue
bubbles when people are speaking, just the text of the captions below. Whereas
I like the feel of the dialogue bubbles on the website, it was felt that they
didn’t translate as well into book form. I think it still reads easily enough
without them, and this way it shows off the parts of the photos that were
previously covered up by dialogue.
All the photos were re-touched up by me for the book, but a couple months back I
made jpg’s of the re-touched up photos and used those to replace the original
ones on the website. The only scene that did get reconstructed was The Garden
of Eden, for the cover shot. Also, each story has its own new chapter opening
image.
Hope to hear your comments on the book when it arrives! Thanks as ever for your
interest and support, Bruce.
-Rev. Smith
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In lugnet.announce, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
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I am thrilled beyond words to announce that the first ever Brick Testament
book is now available at bookstores nationwide and also through internet
retailers such as Amazon.com,
Powell’s Books,
and
Barnes & Noble:
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“Holy” crap! Wow, Brendan, this is very cool. I’m definitely picking up a copy.
Will you be in PDX to sign them?
-Tim
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In lugnet.books, Tim Courtney wrote:
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“Holy” crap! Wow, Brendan, this is very cool.
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It’s very exciting, I agree. @8^) But as an author yourself, you must know the
feeling.
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I’m definitely picking up a copy.
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Excellent. Thanks!
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Will you be in PDX to sign them?
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Most definitely. Wouldn’t miss it.
-Rev. Smith
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In lugnet.books, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
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In lugnet.books, Tim Courtney wrote:
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“Holy” crap! Wow, Brendan, this is very cool.
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It’s very exciting, I agree. @8^) But as an author yourself, you must know
the feeling.
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Yes - another reason I share in your excitement. Our book is at the printer
right now (at last) and will be out very soon! :-)
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I’m definitely picking up a copy.
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Excellent. Thanks!
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Will you be in PDX to sign them?
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Most definitely. Wouldn’t miss it.
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Can’t wait! Oh, and this reminds me to watch Vendetta. I think I’ve seen/done
all of your other crazy stuff at thereverend.com, including reading all of
Second Coming, and as you know already, beating Brad The Game.
-Tim
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In lugnet.announce, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
Wow! Congrats!
does TLC know about this though? they might get pretty nasty about having their
product associated with religion. Anyway, congrats again on getting published.
When’s the sequel coming out? :)
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Congratulations Brendan! This is indeed a momentous occaision, this could rock
the publishing world just like Harry Potter. Well, maybe not, but I hope you
make some decent bank. I did my part by ordering a copy, so you are well on
your way to fiscal success. Again, I couldn’t be happier for you. So when will
the sequel be published? -Keith
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In lugnet.books, Keith Goldman wrote:
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Congratulations Brendan! This is indeed a momentous occaision, this could
rock the publishing world just like Harry Potter. Well, maybe not, but I
hope you make some decent bank. I did my part by ordering a copy, so you are
well on your way to fiscal success. Again, I couldn’t be happier for you. So
when will the sequel be published?
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Thanks, Keith. To answer your (and Spencer’s) question, the possibility of a
sequel book or continuing Brick Testament series rests, I’m sure, on how well
this one does. Only time will tell, but I very much appreciate your efforts
toward that goal!
Rock on,
-Rev. Smith
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That is awesome. I am definately going to get a copy of that. I hope it does
well so the next volume will be made.
-Mike Petrucelli
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In lugnet.books, Mike Petrucelli wrote:
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That is awesome. I am definately going to get a copy of that. I hope it does
well so the next volume will be made.
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Thanks for the support and the well-wishes, Mike. Hope the book does not
disappoint!
-Rev. Smith
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In lugnet.announce, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
This is astoundingly cool. Words fail me. I’ll be buying a copy very soon.
Congratulations!
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In lugnet.books, Jon Palmer wrote:
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This is astoundingly cool. Words fail me. I’ll be buying a copy very soon.
Congratulations!
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Thanks, Jon!
Hey, I noticed today that the Amazon sales rank for my book jumped from
2,053,210 up to 3,023 in 24 hours. Cool. Hope everyone enjoys the book!
-Rev. Smith
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WOW!
Congrat's mate!
Hope it'll sell well, I'll do my part next month.
Also availible in Sweden through Bokus:
http://www.bokus.com/cgi-bin/more_book_info.cgi?pt=search_result&ISBN=1931686459
183 SEK = 22 US$
/Tobbe
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In lugnet.books, Tobbe Arnesson wrote:
> WOW!
>
> Congrat's mate!
Thanks, Tobbe!
> Hope it'll sell well, I'll do my part next month.
>
> Also availible in Sweden through Bokus:
> http://www.bokus.com/cgi-bin/more_book_info.cgi?pt=search_result&ISBN=1931686459
>
> 183 SEK = 22 US$
Hey, that's great. I had no idea Swedish retailers would have the book so soon.
Sorry 'bout the inflated price.
-Rev. Smith
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In lugnet.books, Tobbe Arnesson wrote:
> WOW!
>
> Congrat's mate!
>
> Hope it'll sell well, I'll do my part next month.
Ah, "finished" [1] "reading" [2] it last night. What a treat!
I sure hope it's succesful so we can have sequels, your building technique has
improved quite a lot since these first stories, not that there's anything wrong
with them.
/Tobbe
1. You don't finish a book like this, you read it again and again and...
2. It's not so much reading as looking at the pictures
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I just ordered my copy from Amazon....looking forward to taking it to church!
.......Hope this one takes off and you get to do more books
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In lugnet.books, Steven Locke wrote:
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I just ordered my copy from Amazon....looking forward to taking it to church!
.......Hope this one takes off and you get to do more books
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Let’s hope so. I’d be interested to hear what your fellow parishoners think of
the book. I get at least a couple e-mails a week from ministers and youth
workers asking me for permission to use images from The Brick Testament website
in Sunday Schools and such.
-Rev. Smith
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In lugnet.announce, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
Hello Brendan,
As a hardcore Brick Testament fan, there’s no doubt I definitely want my copy.
Unfortunately, we canadians are not allowed anymore to purchase on amazon.com -
we can only buy from amazon.ca, which has a completely LAME product selection.
(For instance, we only ever get about the TENTH of the Lego products you
Americans get).
Is there any way I can order it directly from you, using Paypal?
Stéphane S.
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First let me add my voice to the chorus of “wow, that’s nifty!”, because it is!
In lugnet.books, Stéphane Simard wrote:
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Unfortunately, we canadians are not allowed anymore to purchase on amazon.com
- we can only buy from amazon.ca, which has a completely LAME product
selection. (For instance, we only ever get about the TENTH of the Lego
products you Americans get).
Is there any way I can order it directly from you, using Paypal?
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If Barnes and Noble has it, and Powells has it, you might check your local
Chapters for it... maybe they have it, or their web site (do they have one?) has
it or they could special order it for you.
If they can’t find it by searching for author (Smith is such an uncommon name
after all) all you need is the ISBN number, presumably, which you should be able
to get from Amazon or the Quirk site, or maybe Brendan knows it.
Hope that helps.
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In lugnet.books, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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First let me add my voice to the chorus of “wow, that’s nifty!”, because it
is!
In lugnet.books, Stéphane Simard wrote:
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Unfortunately, we canadians are not allowed anymore to purchase on
amazon.com - we can only buy from amazon.ca, which has a completely LAME
product selection. (For instance, we only ever get about the TENTH of the
Lego products you Americans get).
Is there any way I can order it directly from you, using Paypal?
|
If Barnes and Noble has it, and Powells has it, you might check your local
Chapters for it... maybe they have it, or their web site (do they have one?)
has it or they could special order it for you.
If they can’t find it by searching for author (Smith is such an uncommon name
after all) all you need is the ISBN number, presumably, which you should be
able to get from Amazon or the Quirk site, or maybe Brendan knows it.
Hope that helps.
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Nevermind - I just found it on amazon.ca
For $19.51 CDN
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all you need is the ISBN number, presumably, which you should be
able to get from Amazon or the Quirk site, or maybe Brendan knows it.
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I know it’s no longer needed, but for the reference here it is:
1931686459
/Tobbe
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Great job Brendan, I’ve been following The Brick Testament closely now...and
will probably pick up a copy for myself as well.
-HRH
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In lugnet.announce, Brendan Powell Smith wrote:
Congratulations!
I see you’re not “The Rev” on the cover... was that your decision?
Adieu
Richie Dulin
| | Port Brique
Somewhere in the South Pacifique
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| | Misérable
Building a safer South Pacifique
|
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In lugnet.books, Richie Dulin wrote:
Thanks, Richie.
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I see you’re not “The Rev” on the cover... was that your decision?
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Originally my publisher asked me how I would like my name to appear on the
cover, and I told them I’d like it to appear as “The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith”.
At some point in the production though, my publisher became worried from a sales
perspective that some bookbuyers might see the book, say, in a catalog, and
assume that the book was written by a Christian minister. Since the book says
otherwise within the Introduction, they were worried that this could lead to too
many returns based on this misunderstanding. I could see their point, so “The
Reverend” is now just in quotes and relegated to the About the Author section at
the end of the book.
-Rev. Smith
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Hi Brendan
I told my wife about the book last night, and she phoned the local bookstore
this morning, here in Saskatoon, Canada, and believe it or don’t, they have the
book in stock already.
She will be running over later this week to pick up her copy.
Keep up the good work.
Dave
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In lugnet.books, David Weiler-Thiessen wrote:
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I told my wife about the book last night, and she phoned the local bookstore
this morning, here in Saskatoon, Canada, and believe it or don’t, they have
the book in stock already.
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That’s great! I’d hate to forsake the Brick Testament fans of Saskatoon.
Just so people know, I appreciate any such reports of where they did or didn’t
find the book, and what sort of display the book is getting at stores.
The first place I found the book was a local independent bookstore called Books,
Inc. in Mountain View, CA, and they had about ten copies of the book out on a
display table with one copy on a little stand on top. That was pretty sweet.
They had a couple more copies in the Humor section, turned so the cover
faced-out. The larger chain bookstores seem to only be stocking one or two
copies so far, and have them filed under “Christianity” or “Religion >
Inspiration”.
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She will be running over later this week to pick up her copy.
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Excellent. @8^) Thanks!
I plan to get back to working on more stories presently.
-Rev. Smith
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Hi Brendan
Picked up the book last night. Well done.
It was in the humour section, which I thought was a little odd, but anyway.
They had 5 copies on display, all bindings out.
The store, McNally Robinson, is a local Western Canada knockoff of a
Borders/Barnes and Noble format store.
Dave
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Hey Brendan,
I saw the Brick Testament in Borders in Los Angeles this weekend. Pretty cool!
Bruce
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In lugnet.books, Bruce Hietbrink wrote:
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I saw the Brick Testament in Borders in Los Angeles this weekend. Pretty
cool!
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That is cool. Maybe the book can pick up some celebrity endorsements. @8^)
Thanks for the report!
-Rev. Smith
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